The revelation that Parkside Candy is for sale spread quickly around Buffalo in the same week as Valentine's Day.
Reached by phone on the other side of the country, Andy Hedley responded as if he had heard a worrisome bit of news about a relative. He has powerful reasons for hoping longtime Parkside owner Philip Buffamonte succeeds in his quest to find a buyer to keep alive that longtime candy tradition.
Hedley offers a Parkside tale intertwined with the whole reason his family came to be. In the warmth of that connection, I suspect he shares a bond with countless Western New Yorkers, which will build into my question for all of you.
To emphasize the meaning, we should hear Hedley's account.
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At 73, he's a retired - and gregarious - physical therapist in Seattle. He grew up in the Town of Tonawanda, before moving to Washington state as a young man 50 years ago or so, because he wanted to live and work near mountains he could climb.
While his older brothers Will and Art - and much later, their mother - also settled in Seattle, the family retains fierce Buffalo loyalties.
Hedley remembers going to see the Buffalo Bisons at long-gone Offermann Stadium. He was at the old War Memorial Stadium with his dad when the Bills defeated San Diego 60 years ago for their first American Football League championship, and his family became regulars at the beloved "Aud" in the early years of the Buffalo Sabres.
The absolute heart of that Buffalo connection starts with this: The reason I called Hedley and left a message is because I happened upon a Facebook post where he recalled how his parents had their first date at Parkside.
He called me back to explain the story gets even better.
As for the timing, it's about as fitting as it gets. Hedley's late mother and father were married 80 years ago this week, on Valentine's Day - meaning that everyone in his family still thinks of that anniversary, every February.
That wedding was held in Buffalo about a year after Hedley's parents had their first date at Parkside - and that first date came oh-so-close to never happening at all.
It's a tale Hedley was ready to tell - particularly because his oldest brother, Will, died barely two months ago, and a reflective Hedley has been contemplating how love, chance and forgiveness were all pivotal in the way their family story came to be.
His folks were from South Buffalo, and both attended South Park High School. After his dad's death in 2006, his grieving mom left Buffalo to live with her sons in Seattle, where Hedley said she died at home - with family around her - in 2009.
There are many questions Hedley wishes now he had asked regarding the details of how his folks met, or the first time they had a real conversation - and he suggests that if your parents are available and you wonder the same things, Valentine's Day is a good time to get those answers.
Hedley believes the romance was built on these key factors: His mother, Ann Irene Gatland, was four years older than his father, Bill Hedley. They knew each other vaguely from their neighborhood, but their real connection began in 1944, when they happened to end up in the same night business class at the University of Buffalo.
Andy's mom, by that point, was living with her mother in an apartment not far from 2304 Main St., site of the original Parkside Candy shop, which closed decades ago. Bill Hedley worked up the courage to ask Ann out, and they made plans to meet at Parkside for their first date.
The day arrived. Bill stood her up.
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Andy Hedley said it's important to remember the Buffalo backdrop of 1944. His dad had severe corneal disease - problems later corrected through difficult and pioneering surgery - that made it impossible for him to serve in World War II, though he tried to go.
Bill Hedley was a skilled machinist, and the recruiters told him he could do more for the war effort by continuing his fine work, at home. That meant he was one of the few young men out and about in Western New York when so many were overseas, and Hedley believes that situation helped his father find the courage to ask his classmate out.
She later told her son she was initially upset - as in really upset - that Bill left her stranded on that first date, and she had no intention of seeing him again. Yet when he called to explain the magnitude of his reason, Ann forgave him.
Bill's mother died from pneumonia on the same day set aside for their big date. If a somber, mourning Bill had not made that second call - and if a hurt Ann Gatland had not accepted his apology - there would probably be no mountain-climbing, Bills-and-Sabres-loving Andy Hedley, in Seattle.
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Almost 60 years later, above a patch of weeds and wildflowers - on the back of a building whose primary occupant is now an accounting service - the strikeout box endures.
Everything in his own life begins with that first date.
Hedley pointed out how Parkside is often associated with love - a point cinematically emphasized by "The Natural," a Buffalo-based movie he can recount scene by scene, in which characters played by Robert Redford and Glenn Close rekindle hope and romance in the same Main Street soda fountain where Hedley's folks sat down, so long ago.
The next 60 years and more of their lives were built upon that moment. They married on Valentine's Day, 1945, a few months before the end of World War II, and soon settled into the routine of family and careers.
The couple raised three boys. Bill Hedley eventually had successful surgery on both eyes. He went on to run the Willard Machine Co. and to coach youth baseball in the Town of Tonawanda, while Ann worked for years as an assistant insurance underwriter.
The story of that first date was part of the family tapestry as their sons grew up, often recalled when Ann took them to Parkside for hot fudge sundaes, orange chocolate or sponge candy.
It leads into my question, then, for all of you - even as we join in the collective hope that Buffamonte succeeds in finding a buyer to carry on the traditions of his legendary candy shop and factory at 3208 Main St.:
Did anyone in your family have a first date - or any moment of humor, love or lasting meaning - involving Parkside Candy, at either famous Main Street location? If so, email me at [email protected], and I'll include as many of those tales as possible in a follow-up column.
The main idea is simply this, as Andy Hedley summarized with the 80-year Buffalo timeline of his family:
"You can trace it all back to Parkside," he said, a truth explaining his fierce hope that such a place always endures.
Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Buffalo News. Email him at [email protected].
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